Cazalea shares a unique Christmas morning adventure, combining a hike up Mount Nebo's staircases with an unexpected Seiko companion. His post highlights the versatility of a vintage Seiko digital pocket watch and offers a charming glimpse into his holiday traditions. This narrative beautifully blends personal experience with an appreciation for diverse timepieces.
We weren't planning to walk on Christmas, but we went to church last night with a couple hundred others (outdoors and distanced) and have nothing on for this morning.
Everything is closed, our relatives and neignbors don't get up til 9am, and we are ready to go [Good habits are as hard to break as bad ones].
So I grabbed the nearest Seiko, which will surprise you, I'm sure.
But hey, Seiko is big in digital as well as analog timepieces. This is a pristine pocket watch/alarm/dual time zone timepiece from 1985. It has a Seiko Ref number and a Caliber 74802 movement. I'm carrying it, and counting it. BTW - there's on like it on eBay right now, for $150 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
We went to a mythical place called Mount Nebo, a geographical feature and neighborhood in the San Diego suburb of La Mesa. Many decades ago the city decided to build staircases between the roads that wind up/down the hill. Rumor has it about 250 steps in total. We set out to investigate and if necessary, disprove those rumors.
From where we parked we could go DOWN the steps, or UP. We chose UP.
We didn't see that above the UP there were more flights UP.
And a few more UP.
And some more UP.
After catching our breath, we turned onto a street and walked around in gradual circles until we finally spotted our car again.
Along the way we saw lots of pretty flowers.
Merry Christmas.
Or Happy Christmas, as they say in the UK.
Tiring of all the steps and wary of increasing numbers of dog walkers, we got in the car, headed east a mile, and began to walki around another hilltop community. We found an interesting art garden.
It was filled with lavender, citrus, pink flamingos, blue bottles,
sculptures
butterflies, etc.
Directly across the road there was even a tiny vineyard.
And an even tinier lending library where my wife procured a book on Wallace Simpson.
One hundred yards away in Boulder Court we found a lovely old pepper tree
a GIGANTIC cactus,
and well-groomed eucalyptus.
Here are a few shots focusing BEYOND the local scenery ... such as the Coronado Bridge.
Downtown proper, with Point Loma in the distance.
Mt. Nebo itself, from a neighboring knoll.
Thanks for joining us. And I guess it will soon be Boxing Day for those to the East of us.
Thanks for the few who have time and energy to read this, we appreciate your support.
If you got a Seiko for Christmas, please wear it. IF NOT, buy one [no Seiko does not compensate me for this lunacy]
Cheers,
Cazalea
PS - the map, with 7 distinct sets of stairs in yellow. One line may equal 4-5 separate stairs. The map doesn't look anywhere near as impressive/painful as the steps themselves!
PPS - obligatory bird collage
